500GB hard drive: Why you should get one

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If you’re in the market for a 500GB hard drive, now is the time to get one. The prices are absolutely the lowest they’ve been in years; with the economy in shambles and the larger technology manufacturers having trouble getting people to buy their products with a high markup, the companies have decided to try a new approach. What they’re doing is focusing on volume. When they focus on volume, they’ll lower the markup (down to just a few dollars, even) just to try to sell more of them. In that way, they can still recoup their profits.

So, what makes a 500GB hard drive for your laptop so enticing to most people? The answer to that is easy: Massive amounts of storage space. If you have a large number of iTunes songs, pictures, games, etc., you’ll definitely benefit from having an almost black hole worth of space to throw it all into. These hard drives usually come in two flavors: Internal and external. External 500GB hard drives are by far the most popular for those with laptops, and that’s no wonder. Internal drives are difficult to install and configure when it comes to laptops; the case must be pulled apart, all of the electronics are jammed into a small space, and there’s a greater chance of accidentally breaking a delicate component.

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Externals on the other hand are extremely easy. All they usually require is a bit of software installed on your computer (though, if you have a Windows XP laptop or any number of Vista laptops the drivers may be taken care of for you), and a USB 2.0 plugin. Some of these larger hard drives still support USB 1.1, but very few still do nowadays. If you buy something like a 500GB hard drive for your system, I’d recommend ensuring that you have the latest USB enabled (2.0). Now, let me tell you this before we continue: You need to be wary of the “no-name” brands of externals. Some of these are very amateurishly-built drives stuck into an enclosure. If you’re basing that for all of your backup needs, you’re going to be sorely disappointed when it one day stops working. If you’re that adamant about getting the cheap stuff instead of name brand (such as Western Digital), you should really consider a RAID array to keep everything backed up. For an internal drive, this is of course no matter.

I hope this has given you at least a small primer on why you should pick up a 500GB hard drive. With prices down near $50 USD, there’s not much excuse.

Shopping:

Iomega Prestige 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive 34808
LaCie Rugged All-Terrain 500 GB USB 2.0/FireWire 400/800 Portable External Hard Drive 301371
2.5" SATA Hard Drive Case (Blue) 500GB Max Capacity
Toshiba Canvio Plus 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive E05A050CAU2XK (Raven Black)
Western Digital WD Elements 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive WDBAAR5000ABK-NESN

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  2. A word on the 2.5″ hard drive
  3. Grab a USB harddrive today
  4. If you want convenience, buy a portable harddrive
  5. Selecting the best backup drives

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One Response to “500GB hard drive: Why you should get one”

  1. Refurbished Notebook on November 16th, 2009 5:14 pm

    [...] drive standard, which is good for starters. I’m sure it can be extended to something like a 500GB hard drive later on down the road. Best yet, this refurbished notebook computer starts at $419, which is [...]

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